Shrink sleeved bottle

ABSTRACT

A shrink-sleeved bottle is disclosed. The bottle has a base, a top part and sides. The bottle has a handle located on a side of the bottle and a sleeve that covers the handle. The sleeve has a cut-out that allows a user to grip the handle, and a fringe that is maintained flush against the bottle.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to packages such as bottles used for containingfluids.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Bottles are widely used in consumer goods industry for packaging varioustype of fluid products. Such bottles are normally decorated, often usinglabels which are stuck onto the bottle. Such labels are typically usednot only for decoration but also to display usage instructions orinformation on the composition of the content for example. However,conventional labelling technology such as wet glue labels, self-adhesivelabels, or in mold labels do not allow to decorate the full bottlesurface area. The accumulation of such visual signals led the industryto develop new approaches allowing higher decoration coverage of thecontainer's surface, one of them being the shrink-sleeving of packages.

Shrink-sleeving is mostly used in the drinking industry, whereby asleeve of thermo-plastic material may be shrinked all around a beveragebottle, thus offering an extended area which may be used for any type ofgraphics. Typical thermoplastic materials used for shrink sleevinginclude polyvinylchloride (PVC), polyestertetraphtalate (PET), orientedpolypropylene (OPP) and oriented polystyrene (OPS).

However, use of shrink-sleeving did not extend to relatively largercontainers, particularly because of the need of a side handle when suchcontainers are used. Indeed, the sleeving of a bottle consists ininserting the bottle into a straight sleeve of thermo-plastic material,the thermo-plastic being then heated up to shrink and fit tightly aroundthe container. Clearly, in case of a container or bottle having a sidehandle, such a process would lead to preventing access to the handle asthe sleeve would cover the recess produced by the handle, so that thehandle cannot be gripped.

The invention seeks to provide a bottle with a side handle, whereby thesurface available for displaying graphics onto the bottle is maximised.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the invention, this object is accomplished in abottle having a base, a top part and sides, the bottle comprising ahandle located on a side of the bottle, the bottle being shrink-sleeved,whereby the sleeve covers the handle, the sleeve comprising a cut-outallowing to grip the handle, the cut-out having a fringe maintainedflush against the bottle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described by way of example and with referenceto the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating a bottle (1) according to theinvention with a handle (2) and a sleeve (3) (in hatched on theFigures). The sleeve has a cut out with fringes (4). The bottle isillustrated after sleeving and prior to the insertion of an insert.

FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating an insert (5) which may be used withthe sleeved bottle of FIG. 1 by inserting it as indicated with thearrows.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the bottle of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a decorated bottle where the means ofdecoration is a shrink sleeve. The term bottle hereby should beunderstood generally as a container for fluid products, fluid productsincluding liquids as well as flowing materials such as powders orgranule.

The bottle has a base. By a base it should be understood a part of thebottle on which the bottle is left to stand up-right. This part my beflat, on may for example be formed from a moulded tripod, or from a flatring. Many types of “base” are know in the art, the main feature of sucha base being to hold the bottle in a stable position on a flatsupporting surface.

The bottle further comprises a top part. The top part is typically thepart of the bottle opposed to the base. The top is commonly the part ofthe bottle which provides an exit for the content of the bottle.

The bottle also comprises sides. The sides are the surfaces whichgenerally speaking are joining the top and the base of the bottle.Typically, when the bottle is upright, the sides are substantiallyvertical and perpendicular to the base. The sides may also have a curvedor relatively complex shape depending on the bottle considered.

The bottle comprises a handle located on a side of the bottle. Thismakes the bottle different from bottles without handles (such as forexample bottles for soda or beer portions), and also from bottle with ahandle on the top part (such as “heavy” bottles of the type used forcontaining more than 5 litters of petrol for example). The handleaccording to the invention is normally forming a recess in the verticaldirection when the bottle is upright, the recess being such that a usermay slide the hand in the recess to hold the bottle by the handle.

Further, the bottle is shrink-sleeved. Shrink sleeving consists inenveloping a part of the bottle in a thermoplastic tube like sleeve, thesleeve being heated to shrink and fit onto the bottle.

The sleeve also comprises a cut-out allowing to grip the handle. Thiscut out is typically in two parts facing each other on each side of therecess produced by the handle, thus allowing for access of the hand of auser. Therefore, each of the two parts of the cut out should typicallyhave a size corresponding to the size of the recess.

Further, the cut-out according to the invention has a fringe maintainedflush against the bottle. This is to avoid to have the fringe of the cutout to hang loose in the recess area. Indeed, this would be incommodefor a user, or even dangerous if such fringe has sharp edges.

Such a result may be obtained in various ways:

In a first embodiment, the cut-out is maintained flush against thebottle by means of an adhesive, the adhesive typically maintaining thefringe of the cut-out in contact with the side of the bottle or with thehandle surface, thus preventing parts of the fringe to hang loose.

In another embodiment, the cut-out is maintained flush against thebottle by means of two groves, one on each side of the handle, thegroves circumscribing the handle area. The groves typically borders thefringe of the cut-out, thus preventing parts of the fringe to hangloose.

In another embodiment, the cut-out is maintained flush against thebottle by means of an insert. Such insert should be located into therecess formed by the handle, and should cover the fringe of the cut out.An extra advantage of such an insert may be to reinforce the mechanicalstructure of the bottle, which may be particularly desirable in theregion of the handle.

In the preferred embodiments, the sleeve covers at least 30% of theouter surface of the bottle, in order to provide for a sufficientsurface to application of graphics. More preferably, the sleeve coversat least 50% of the outer surface of the bottle, even more preferably65%, and most preferably at least 80% of the outer surface of thebottle. It should be understood the “outer surface of the bottle” herebycomprises the whole outer surface, including the outer surface of thebase, or of the handle for example.

In the preferred embodiments, the bottle has an internal volume of atleast 1 litre and of less than 5 litres. Even more preferably, thebottle has an internal volume of less than 3 litres. Indeed, a handlewould not be particularly needed for smaller bottles, and a side handlewould be preferably replaced by a top handle for larger bottles.

1. A bottle having a base, a top part and sides, the bottle comprising ahandle located on a side of the bottle, the bottle being shrink-sleeved,whereby the sleeve covers the handle, the sleeve comprising a cut-outallowing to grip the handle, the cut-out having a fringe maintainedflush against the bottle by securing at least a portion of said fringeto at least a portion of the bottle.
 2. A bottle having a base, a toppart and sides, the bottle comprising a handle located on a side of thebottle, the bottle being shrink-sleeved, whereby the sleeve covers thehandle, the sleeve comprising a cut-out allowing to grip the handle, thecut-out having a fringe maintained flush against the bottle by anadhesive.
 3. A bottle having a base, a top part and sides, the bottlecomprising a handle located on a side of the bottle, the bottle beingshrink-sleeved, whereby the sleeve covers the handle, the sleevecomprising a cut-out allowing to grip the handle, the cut-out having afringe maintained flush against the bottle by an insert.
 4. A bottlehaving a base, a top part and sides, the bottle comprising a handlelocated on a side of the bottle, the bottle being shrink-sleeved,whereby the sleeve covers the handle, the sleeve comprising a cut-outallowing to grip the handle, the cut-out having a fringe maintainedflush against the bottle by two grooves circumscribing the handle area,one on each side of the handle.
 5. The bottle according to claim 1,whereby the sleeve covers at least 30% of the outer surface of thebottle.
 6. The bottle of claim 1 wherein the bottle has an internalvolume of at least 1 liter and of less than 5 liters.